Mergers and acquisitions and Netflix, oh my!
No, that wasn’t a line from Wicked: For Good, but conversations around the shifting business of Hollywood this year did take up just as much space as the movies themselves. With all of the industry’s shakeups and reshufflings, we figured our list should do the same.
So, without further ado, here’s our favorite films of the year… BY GENRE.
Action: Sinners
This film could’ve neatly fit into almost any genre on this list, and won in just about all of them. It’s a blues-fueled, crime-ridden, intoxicating creature-feature that tunes its influences into an entirely unique experience. If a sequel came knocking, we’d welcome it right in.
Animated: Predator: Killer of Killers
Not the only Predator film of the year, but definitely the alpha. It’s wildly inventive, ferociously animated, and each predator introduced is tougher than the last. Admittedly, it’s a total “bro-out-movie”– the kind where a roided-out alien slices someone’s head clean off with a splintered plank of Norwegian Viking battleship wood in a frozen tundra, and dudes watching just raise their glass to the TV with a smirk of approval.
Comedy: The Phoenician Scheme
The first viewing of a Wes Anderson film is always (Benedict) cumbersome. To fully grasp its heights, one must essentially dedicate a single viewing to understand its story, another viewing to catch the dialogue, and yet another to fully appreciate the style. If that all seems a little much, simply appreciate the rarity of a film that pacts in enough craft to not only suggest multiple viewings, but to require it.
Crime: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Detective Benoit Blanc arrives in a heavenly glow to confront, judge, and make right the wicked ways of sinners… sounds like a story we’re all familiar with. Upon further investigation, we’ve found the mystery of the murder to be secondary to the guilt of those responsible. Johnson points out that confession is the way to revelation, and in true Scooby Doo fashion, no one is “getting away with it”.
Documentary: Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Because high school needed more drama. The perp's involvement in the documentary itself is dumbfounding, not to mention how long the investigation dragged on for. Both factors firmly place this in the “I Want to Throw My Remote at the TV” type of entertainment… in the best way possible.
Drama: One Battle After Another
There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said about this one. It somehow surpassed our expectations for what a Paul Thomas Anderson & Leo DiCaprio collab could be, and the hype for it has not sizzled out since its release. The result is a critical hit that some are boldly calling the best film of the 2020s. So yeah… it’s on our list.
Horror: 28 Years Later
This is a daring evolution of the franchise, infected with a visual style unlike anything we’ve seen before and an emotional punch strong enough to make even the most hardcore gore-junky tear up. Consider this a gentle warning, though… a few characters have their spines removed in very unexpected ways. They do not survive.
Indie: Train Dreams
The sun is in a perpetual state of rising or setting… Terrence Maleck would be proud. This film teaches us that simplicity is not without tragedy, and that CGI trees can look just as good as the real ones when done right. “Beauty from the ashes” takes on a different meaning with this one.
Musical: K-Pop Demon Hunters
This one is in honor of our Golden daughters, who spent more hours watching this one movie than most of us spent watching movies all year.
Romance: Black Bag
It’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith if they trusted each other and threw impeccable dinner parties. Every character has a place at the table, and rather than gorging on their own moments, they elevate one another– pairing together as effortlessly as champagne and fish & chips.
SciFi / Fantasy: Frankenstein
Why does Guillermo Del Toro choose to retell a story we all know so well– one he’s been circling his entire career? Well, when homage is stripped away, what remains is the raw emotion he felt the first time he encountered the story. That’s not only what the film is chasing, but it’s what the film is. Pure emotion, rooted in empathy for a creature far more human than we ever imagined.
Thriller: Eddington
Nothing we turn to can change the fact that we’re all a little ridiculous. As podcaster Sean Fennessy puts it, “Eddington is a mirror. Like what you see?”. This film isn’t the most hopeful look at humanity– but man does it go off like a “Firework”.
The Sneak: Weapons
Each chapter of this film feels like another rickety step down into that basement– the one that haunted your childhood– and yet somehow, it’s some of the most fun we’ve had in a theater all year. That uneasy dance between fear and laughter is Cregger’s sweet spot, and this film marks his ascent into the company of modern horror heavyweights.
Honorable Mentions
- Companion: We felt bad for the AI robot and we will not apologize.
- Life of Chuck: Finally, we know who really invented the moon walk.
- Mickey 17: But what if Mickey was cloned on Groundhog’s Day?
- The Surfer: Nicolas Cage’s 114th movie (roughly) is one of his best.
- Good Boy: the dog deserves a Paw-scar… and for that pun we will not apologize.
Even with 18 films represented, there are still plenty left on the cutting room floor.
It truly was a great year for film– industry chaos and all, with distribution being passed around like a hockey puck on ice.
Hollywood has always been an evolving industry, though. Streaming didn’t kill theaters. Digital didn’t erase film. And AI won’t replace people. What actually happened is what always happens: New tools joined the old ones.
As long as the rink is still maintained by real people, the game will go on just fine.